Starting a new adventure . . . Minimalist Golf

[Hertsjoatmon]

Most of my minimalist bag are clubs from my full bag, with the exception of the m4 irons which I managed to get from ebay for a crazy price that fit the loft gaps I was after perfectly (sold out of someone's half set with no other bids).

Slowly selling off all the extra clubs and shafts etc that I have purchased over the last 2 years and feeling content with my lot. A lot of trial an error but it does feel good not to be chasing the next "better" club.

[14max]

I just bought an NOS Datrek Sunday bag so I can play minimalist golf again. I'll go with the following:

Driver, 4 wood, 4 hybrid, 7/9/UW, LW, putter or Driver, 7 wood, 6/8/PW, LW, putter

 

[jt2gt]

I've got 5,7,9 in callaway xforged '18 that would make a good starter for a minimalist set. Would part with for a good deal. All have different shafts, but close in weight. I moved on to some Srixons I found. LMK.

[Maffski22]

Since my local club introduced a trolley and cart ban, the guys I play with have been playing 4 club bags. 3 hybrid, 7 iron Pitching wedge and putter has been a good combo.

Scores have been about the same and it’s actually taught me a few things... instead of defaulting to my 58 around the green, opening up my Pitching wedge has been surprisingly effective. I’m definitely appreciating looking at the game with a different set of eyes.

the other plus side is I’m less tired on the back 9 carrying such a light bag.

[g-off]

went back to variable length with the minimalist set, single length was a bit of a struggle just carrying 4 irons, going to order 4 or 5 irons only after the pga show and the new stuff comes out, until sticking with the eye 2 becus.

[DevilDog]

If I am carrying a bag, I use like a Sunday bag when carrying, I will take the 6, 8, PW, SW, one 4 hybrid, driver and putter. 7 clubs overall. Weight difference is more than one might think especially carrying over 18 holes. Works pretty well for me

[marmaduk]

 

Driver, 7w, 5h, 7i, 9i, GW, LW, Putter

[rkillian]

Hello minimalist golfers. This seemed like the best place to discuss the kind of thing I am thinking of trying as it s a pretty long thread and still seems active.

A thread popped today about those who play with less than 14 clubs. That along with the article on here written recently regarding the Half Set got me thinking a little bit. I am a relatively new golfer with an average score of about a 94 trying to slowly get to a point where I can consistently break 90 on my home course. I play most of my golf on my home course. I can count on one hand since I have started last year how many times I played on a different course. My preference is to walk with my carry bag as much as possible whether it is 9 or 18 holes. My current bag make up (in signature) is different than what I started with and a couple less clubs. I don't think I'm willing to go to a fully minimalist set up with 8 or fewer clubs but around 10 sounds like a good number to me. Not a full 14 so it will lighten the bag and somewhat simplify things but enough to get me out of trouble. My home course isn't that long and I know there are clubs I could remove from the bag and still play a decent round relative to my skill level. I know based on how/where I play what I need in the bag as well. That said, I don't have the skill to work the ball. So larger gaps might hurt me. But learning and getting comfortable with partial shots is not only something I want to do, it sounds like a fun project. And it doesn't hurt to keep the walking bag lighter. So with a D, 4H, 5-GW, 56, and Putter. I'm currently at 11 clubs.

I am the least comfortable with my 5 iron. It also sees almost no use on my course. I hit my 6 iron fine enough but I am better and more consistent with 7 iron on down. I am thinking of getting club that will spit the distance gap between my 4H and 7 Iron. I am thinking something like a cleveland Launcher HB 6 bent a degree strong might be a good way to go. I can order a single club that way and with shafts in my iron set. It's been hard to locate a hybrid in that loft range used or at a price in my budget with a stiff shaft.

As far as loft gapping that would put me at a 21*H, 25.5* with the launcher, and 30* at the 7 iron. That puts my 4H-GW set at 4.5 or 5* loft gaps (My driver is currently set back to 10* after being at 11* for a little while). On paper that sounds pretty good to me though I'd have to try it out to really see. But it seems like those would probably translate to pretty easy to manage distance gaps. For me on my home course my approach shots are typically 8 iron and shorter. I figure that if those of you who play with these 8 and less club sets can manage to score as well as you do with a full set I don't think that setup would put me in a worse spot.

I also want something new in the SW spot but that's gonna take some demo work I think. I had a good run with my 56 but now that my course is a bit softer I am really struggling with the bounce/grind on it. I may get a 56 with a wider sole or something like a CBX 2 or Glide that may blend better with the feel of my irons. I try and chip with lower lofts as much as possible anyway. My 56 is not a full swing club so I don't think anything that replaces it would need to be either.

Any input is appreciated.

[Tommy56]

Welcome to the minimalist journey. I gradually worked my way down from 12 clubs 5 years ago to ~8 where I've settled for the past 3 years.

You're on the right track starting with what clubs work best for you and eliminating those that you aren't as confident in. A couple things I would suggest is to focus on yardage gaps rather than loft gaps. Lofts are just one starting point. On course results and club versatility is paramount, especially as you further reduce the number of clubs you carry. Track your average yardages with each club and experiment with how you can vary distance and trajectory with each. Try different set configurations and see what options best fits your style of play / strengths on the courses you play most often.

Enjoy the journey!

[golfkrzy10]

Tommy56 makes a great point. Also, if you have a fitter near by, you can do a gap fitting on track man and get things dialed in. I use my evens set for shorter courses and my odds set for longer courses based on par 3's, odds is longer based on 3 iron and 9 iron....I have 15 yd gap up top, and 25 yard gaps between everything below 3U and 4U iron in the bags. I carry 10 clubs, Driver, 3 wood (15 even, 13.5 odd), hybrid (19 even, 17 odd), 3,4utility, 5,7,9,50,60,P, or 6,8,PW,52,60,P Welcome to the club. Super easy to carry and I never come up short nor am I ever between clubs! lol

[rkillian]

@Tommy56 and @golfkrzy10 thanks for the input. Yeah I do want to focus on the distance gaps. I figure the loft gaps are something to start with though. I have to work on tracking my on course distances with my non-tee shots. I would like to do a gap fitting or test on a launch monitor. With a big birthday this year and I might make that my present to myself. I really only have my total distances with my tee shots from the flatter holes on my home course. There are a few fairways that can offer a lot of roll if you land in the right spot. I’m not sure about carry. Given that I’m still inconsistent I don’t factor my wayward shots into it. So with that I know my driver is good for around 270, my 4H is 225-235ish I can choke down an inch and swing a little easier and hit about the 200 mark consistently at the range but I haven’t done this on the course. I tee off with 8-GW on par 3’s depending on tee placement. 8 iron will go 165 and gap wedge about 135ish. These are just averages based on gps app and numbers I get from that. A proper gapping session would definitely be needed. I have tough numbers for all my clubs but not enough that I’d call them accurate averages. My home course is short enough that I really don’t need a fairway wood if I’m not going to tee off with my driver. And really the 2 or 3 other course that a rarely play on are not much longer so it puts me in the same situation. I like the idea of the Cleveland launcher HB iron to replace my 5 and 6 iron. I just need to get some more standard numbers To figure that out and hopefully test one.

[marmaduk]

You are over thinking it. imo

I was guilty of this as well. My first posts in this thread looked exactly like this. I think I had made few custom sets online (not actually buying anything) before I just took every second club out of my bag and played my first minimal round.

Once you get a few rounds with 7/8 clubs under your belt you will realize a few things. Firstly your score will average almost exactly the same as what you shoot with a full set. You will realize the perfect set you’re imagining will not work as hoped on course. You will find that your new favourite clubs are the ones you can make different shots with. You will realize having one specific club for one specific par 3 is an unnecessary waste. A punchy knock-down to a specific carry yardage will be your go to shot

These are just my observations. I would recommend just trying minimal first before investing in equipment. Your set will morph as you become comfortable with not having the perfect club.

[rkillian]

Thanks, I’m sure I am overthinking it. Maybe at some point I’ll take a fully minimalist approach. I suppose I was more so asking about a “semi-minimalist” approach by using maybe a new club to replace 2 I currently have. But you definitely make a good point that I shouldn’t at clubs for specific shots when they will have to make multiple shots. Next time out I might just take the odds or evens and just see what happens.

 

edited for typo

[animalgolfs]

Lots of truths in this imo

[Hertsjoatmon]

Things are settling down having moved house in December, but with little to no storage space I've had to sacrifice a lot of my full set and spares to the eBay gods. My minimalist set up is similar to before (7 clubs inlc. putter with 25-30 yard gapping) but my main set has been reduced to 10 clubs now to fit comfortably in a weekend carry bag (15-20 yard gapping), as I have no room for my push cart and cart bags any more...

Main set will be in my sig (after I update it after posting this).

Min set up

Ping G400 Max - 9* - 44.25" Ozik X-con 5 R

Callaway Big Bertha Fairway - 19* - 41.25" Motore 70 R

Taylormade M4 - 28.5* - 38" XP85 S softstepped

Taylormade M4 - 38* - 37" XP95 S softstepped

Ping G - 47.5* - 47.5* - 36" AWT 2.0 R (105g)

Cleveland Smart Sole 3.0 - 58* - 35" AWT 2.0 W (115g)

Odyssey 2 Ball Fang

Happy with the results so far. Great set for the range or a short notice round as these live in my car...

 

[marmaduk]

This is a great looking setup.

As a side thought instead of trying to sell a half set on The Bay (which probably won’t get you much) you could lend them to a playing partner or to someone who you want to get into golf. I have a set of Burner 2.0s that I’ve split up and have given to two different friends in hopes of luring them away from hockey ;) I’ve also succeed and got my nephew obsessed with another half set.

 

Just a thought.

[WristySwing]

My friend and I were talking about this and settled on an 8 club set up that seemed to make sense to me. Driver, 4w, 22* hybrid/fairway wood, 30* iron, 38* iron, 46* PW, 54* wedge, putter. I really liked the look of that Original One Driver and I think that would be a cool little club to have in a minimalist bag as it can dual purpose if necessary out of the rough on a really long hole.

[Sean2]

Just for fun the other day I played a round (temp tees and greens, so course very short), with just a 7-iron. I was surprised at how well I scored. I have played with 7 clubs before and didn't see THAT much of a difference in my score. Anyway, this thread has me thinking...dangerous as that may be.

[jt2gt]

Working through my set up for early season play...even though I still have a while to go (in OH). Several changes from last early season mini bag:

Ping G400 Stretch 3 (13)

Cobra F7 3/4 Hyb (19.5)

Z545 -- 5 (24)

Z745 -- 7 (32) and 9 (40)

MD4 S Grind -- 48 and 56

Putter -- old rusty Byron Morgan Epic Day

[lefty_forever]

@jt2gt Love your setup. Could easily game that!

[cflo2382]

I wanted to attempt this "minimalist golf" thing at the beginning of last year and even put together a small set. I ended up cancelling that plan and stuck with my normal 14 club set. I never even brought the small set to the course and ended up selling everything in it. I started walking a lot more towards the end of last season and really enjoyed it. Cheaper, more exercise, and just a much better appreciation of the course (and game itself). I tested out some 7, 8, and 9 club setups and decided that 8 was the perfect set up for me. My time for golf is going to be taking a bit of a hit this year and I figured this would be the perfect time to take another stab at this approach. So, heres my setup going into 2020 (actual specs in my sig). I call it "The 8x8" (8 clubs, 8* spread in lofts throughout):

[lefty_forever]

Man... you guys are on fire today! Another great setup right there! Glad it’s working out for you. I think 8 is indeed the magic number.

[OakRockHacker]

I've toyed around with lot of different minimalist set ups, but always tend to come back to this one:

Driver - 9* - GBB Epic

5W - 19* - Rogue

4, 6, 8, PW - G400

50, 60(or 56) - Vokey

Putter - Ping Anser or O-Works 2-Ball Fang

On paper it seems silly to me to have 3 out of the 9 clubs be wedges, but the G400 PW is pretty jacked at 44.5* and gives me a 20-25 yard gap to the 50* Vokey, so it fits in nicely. As many others have said, with a minimalist set it's even more important to look at actual yardages and gaps versus making the lofts all evenly spaced. I tried to figure out roughly how many clubs I wanted to carry and what yardage windows I wanted to hit and started picking clubs from there. Then look at preferences for getting off the tee and chipping around the green to finish it all off.

I hit my driver more reliably than anything off the tee, and need all the distance I can get, so I keep it in instead of going to a 3W for tee and fairway use. 5W is good as my longest option off the deck as I tend to get myself into more trouble than it's worth with anything longer anyway. A big part of the appeal of the minimalist set to me is to force myself to think a little more strategically and consider where the better place to miss is.

All of that being said, I agree with posters above who have said that the best way to fine tune a minimalist set is to get out on the course with half your clubs and figure out what works best. Much easier said than done in Minnesota right now though, so I'm resigned to staring at my clubs and thinking about it . . .

[jt2gt]

Nice...Really like the looks of the Zforged for minimalist set. Someone on BST had 4,6,8,pw Zforged heads for sale and I seriously thought about grabbing those to make a set with. But I had the 585/745 mini set already so passed. What shafts in your Zforged? Enjoy.

[cflo2382]

That was actually me selling the evens. I'm really liking the Z-Forged. Little bit bigger blade than I'm used to but they feel wonderful. Have them paired with x100s.

[azgreg]

Not full minimalist but down to 11 clubs. D, 5w, 5h, 6-gw, sw, p.

 

[Golfingfanatic]

This year I want to make an effort and use a minimalist-style bag for the more casual rounds I play. This is what I am going with:

 

Driver: A-Grind Classic 350cc 10.5°

Fairway Wood: Steel-shafted Cobra F6 Baffler 17.5°

Irons: Titleist 680MB 3,5,7,9

Wedge: Cleveland RTX 2.0 Raw 56°

Putter: MnBr Ping Anser

[hagimihale]

I've done speed rounds with 4 clubs (below 3, plus a putter)

Titleist 818 H2 19*

Mizuno JPX 825 Pro 6i

Mizuno MP-54 PW

 

I carry 240 with the H2 (Tensei Pro White is a beast of a shaft), 180 with the 6i and 135 with the PW. Choke down where needed and/or partial shots to fill in distance gaps. Open up the PW around the greens and in the sand. Chose the PW over a SW as I am more accurate on partial shots with the PW.

 

Rounds are challenging and fun. Forces me to think and plan my misses well. My game has gotten better as a result...

 

[Stinger75]

I decided to experiment with this on Sunday.

Driver, 3w, 7w, 5, 7, 9, 48, 56, putter

I shot 78, first time I’ve broken 80 in over 9 months.

I’ve always hit my driver well but I have really been struggling with my irons lately.

My focus switched from worrying about my iron swing to focusing on the shot that I needed to hit.

Short game decisions were much easier as well with only 2 wedges.

[stddhh11]

Due to this thread and wingtipgolf on Instagram, I decided to try playing with a short set. I have to say it was the most enjoyable round of golf I've ever played, despite it being cold with a 2-3 club wind. I didn't shoot my lowest score ever (75), but considering the weather, my 82 felt like a 72. The creativity needed to flight and shape the required shots was a blast and it lowered my expectations of perfection on every swing. I played with 8 clubs and I didn't miss the other 6 once. Thanks again for the motivation to give this a shot!

 

My clubs:

Driver: Cobra F8 (10.5 degrees)

Hybrid: Adam's Idea A12 (17 degrees)

Irons: Ben Hogan PTx 5, 7, 9 (26, 34, 42 degrees)

Wedges: Ben Hogan Equalizer (50, 56 degrees)

Putter: Tommy Armour Impact

 

The only modification I could possibly make is changing the 56 for a 58. I didn't need the extra loft today but it would be nice to have.